“Britain’s most senior naval officer last night complained that the British Government had insulted him in a row over intelligence and security.”
“Admiral Lord West of Spithead, 72, a decorated Falklands veteran, former First Sea Lord and a Security Minister under Gordon Brown, was denounced on the record by the Foreign Office for engaging in ‘disinformation and propaganda’ and for helping to distract attention from the war crimes of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.”
“Lord West believes there are serious doubts about an investigation into the use of poison gas by Syria in Douma in 2018, and that credible complaints of censorship, made by whistleblowers, have been wrongly ignored.”
“The Admiral is one of a number of distinguished figures demanding a proper inquiry into complaints by experienced OPCW inspectors that a report on an alleged gas attack in Syria in April 2018 was censored to give a false outcome.”
“The ‘Statement of Concern’ signed by Lord West was issued in New York by the Courage Foundation, a body dedicated to supporting whistleblowers anxious to tell the truth against official pressure.”
“Others signing the statement include Jose Bustani, a Brazilian diplomat who is himself a former chief of the OPCW; Katharine Gun, a vindicated Iraq War whistleblower whose story was told in the recent film Official Secrets; Hans-Christof von Sponeck, a former UN Assistant Secretary General; Alan Steadman, a chemical weapons munitions specialist, former OPCW inspection team leader and United Nations Special Commission inspector; and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell.”
“The row is highly sensitive because Britain, France and the US bombed Syria after the attack, without waiting for impartial evidence or proof that Assad was to blame. They could face war crimes charges if the bombing turned out not to have been justified.”
2021-week11
